Anthony Joshua revealed he will need surgery to resolve an elbow injury.
He expects the procedure to keep him from making a full return to training for six to eight weeks.
Joshua hasn't boxed since suffering a crushing knockout defeat to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois last September.
But the former unified titlist does intend to return to the sport.
"When do you want me back?" Joshua said, when speaking to DAZN. "I'm trying to get my body right. I have got to actually have a little surgery on my elbow.
"A small surgery sometime in May. I'm finalising the details," he continued. "That will see me out of the gym for maybe six to eight weeks, and then when I'm healed, I will be back."
It means Joshua will only box once in 2025.
Speculation is mounting that Joshua could eventually fight long-time rival Tyson Fury in a non-title bout later this year.
Fury, who announced his retirement earlier this year, has posted footage of himself with trainer SugarHill Steward on social media which suggests he is training still himself.
Promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports: "It's up to Tyson [if he comes back]. He may want to do that, if he does that's going to his choice. I am not going to in any way try and get him to do that."
"It all comes down to Tyson, the deal. We're ready," Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports. "But there's no point calling it out because it's going to take one man to say let's give the world the biggest fight in boxing. And we live in hope that he [Fury] decides to get it done.
"[Fury boxing training,] that's a good sign. I'm sure he will be bored soon. Let's hope he wants to make the biggest fight in boxing."
'What else would it be?'
Carl Frampton, a boxing expert and former two-weight world champion, thinks Fury must be coming back, with Joshua his most likely target.
"It looks like it doesn't it. It looks like he's coming back. Why else would he be training with SugarHill?" Frampton told Sky Sports.
"It has to be [for a Joshua] fight. What else would it be?"
Watch Naoya Inoue's undisputed title defence against Ramon Cardenas live on Sky Sports from 1am on Monday morning.
